Consent forms must be signed for each person participating in this experiment. You should inform people that although fingerprints can be used as forms of identification, you will assign their fingerprints a code and not use their name so that the fingerprints remain anonymous. For children under the age of 18, parents must grant consent. In addition, the fair's Scientific Review Committee (SRC) must approve the experimental design (including consent forms).

Material Availability

Readily available

Cost

Very Low (under $20)

Safety

No issues

Abstract

Have you ever looked at two girls and thought they looked so similar that they must be sisters? What about a father and his son — have you ever seen a boy who looked just like how his father did when he was younger? We can often tell that two people are related because they appear to have several similar physical traits. This is because children receive half of their DNA — their genetic blueprints — from each parent. What about fingerprints — are they an inherited trait? Fingerprints are used as reliable identification because each person's fingerprints are unique, but people can have similar fingerprint patterns. In this science project, you will investigate whether fingerprint patterns are created randomly or whether they are influenced by genetics.

Objective

Collect, categorize, and compare the fingerprints of siblings versus unrelated pairs of individuals to determine if fingerprint patterns are inherited.

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Introduction

During weeks 10 through 24 of gestation (when a fetus is developing inside of its mother's womb, also called in utero), ridges form on the epidermis, which is the outermost layer of skin, on the fingertips of the fetus. The pattern that these ridges make is known as a fingerprint, and looks like the drawing shown in Figure 1, below.

Figure 1. A drawing of a fingerprint.

Fingerprints are static and do not change with age, so an individual will have the same fingerprint from infancy to adulthood. The pattern changes size, but not shape, as the person grows. (To get a better idea of how that works, you can model the change in size by inking your fingerprint onto a balloon and then blowing up the balloon.) Since each person has unique fingerprints that do not change over time, they can be used for identification. For example, police use fingerprints to determine whether a particular individual has been at a crime scene. Although the exact number, shape, and spacing of the ridges changes from person to person, fingerprints can be sorted into three general categories based on their pattern type: loop, arch, and whorl, as shown in Figure 2, below.

The DNA that a person inherits from their parents determines many personal characteristics and traits, like whether someone is right- or left-handed or the color of their eyes. In this science project, you will examine fingerprints from siblings versus pairs of unrelated individuals to figure out if general fingerprint patterns are genetic or random. Have you ever looked at two girls and said, "you must be sisters"? We can often tell that two people are siblings because they appear to have several similar physical traits. This is because children receive half their DNA from each parent. All biological siblings are the mixture of both parents' DNA. This results in a greater degree of matching traits between siblings than between unrelated individuals. Therefore, if DNA determines fingerprint patterns, then siblings are more likely to share the same fingerprint category than two unrelated individuals are.

Terms and Concepts

Gestation

In utero

Epidermis

DNA

Fingerprint patterns

Biological siblings

Fingerprint formation

Inheritance

Genetics

Questions

What does it mean to be biologically related?

What are fingerprints and how are they formed?

What procedures do officials, like the police, use to record fingerprints?

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Experimental Procedure

To start this science project, practice taking reliable, clear fingerprints. First try the technique on yourself, then ask a friend or family member to let you learn by using his or her fingerprints.

To make an ink pad variation, rub a pencil on a piece of printer paper, parchment paper, or tracing paper several times until an area of about 3 by 3 centimeters (cm) is completely grey, as shown in Figure 3 (the paper on the left).

Use a moist towelette to clean the person's right index finger.

Thoroughly dry the finger with a paper towel.

Press and slide each side of the the right index fingertip one time over the pad

Then roll the grey fingertip onto the sticky side of a piece of clear tape. The result will look like the tape in Figure 3.

Use another towelette to clean the person's grey finger.

Cut off the piece of tape containing the fingerprint and stick it onto a piece of white paper, as shown in Figure 3.

Perfect your technique until the fingerprints come out clear each time.

When your prints start to fade, rub your pencil a couple of times over your pad and try again.

Figure 3. To create a fingerprint, press and slide each side of the person's fingertip over the pad one time, then roll the fingertip onto the sticky side of the tape and stick the tape to a piece of white paper.

Make up a consent form for your science project. Because fingerprints can be used to identify people, you will need their consent to take and use their fingerprints. The Science Buddies resource on Projects Involving Human Subjects will give you some additional information on getting consent.

Collect fingerprints of pairs of siblings and of pairs of unrelated people.

Make sure they sign a consent form before you take the fingerprint.

Use the cleaning and printing system you developed in step 1 to take one fingerprint of each person's right index finger.

Label each fingerprint with a unique code, which will tell you which pair the fingerprint belongs to and whether that is a sibling pair or an unrelated pair. An example of an appropriate code would be to assign each pair a number and each individual a letter. Siblings would be labeled as subjects A and B, while unrelated individuals would be labeled as subjects D and Z. Thus, fingerprints from a sibling pair might carry the codes 10A and 10B while fingerprints from a unrelated pair might be labeled 11D and 11Z.

Collect fingerprints from at least 15 sibling pairs and 15 unrelated pairs. For unrelated pairs, you can actually reuse your sibling data by pairing them up differently. As an example, you could pair sibling 1A with sibling 2B since these individuals are not related to each other. The more pairs you look at in your science project, the stronger your conclusions will be! For a more in-depth look at how the number of participants affects the reliability of your conclusions, see the Science Buddies resource
Sample Size: How Many Survey Participants Do I Need?

Examine each fingerprint and characterize it as a whorl, arch, or loop pattern. You can use a magnifying glass if you have one. In your lab notebook, make a data table like Table 1, creating a separate row for each person, and fill it out.

Related Pairs (unique ID)

Fingerprint Category(arch / whorl / loop)

Category match?(yes/no)

10A

10B

Unrelated Pairs (unique ID)

Fingerprint Category(arch / whorl / loop)

Category match?(yes/no)

11D

11Z

Table 1. In your lab notebook, make a data table like this one and fill it out using the fingerprint pattern data you collected. Be sure to make a separate row for each person.

To analyze your data, calculate the percentage of related pairs whose fingerprint patterns match and the percentage of unrelated pairs whose fingerprint patterns match. Advanced students can calculate the margin of error. The Science Buddies resource
Sample Size: How Many Survey Participants Do I Need? can help you with this.

Make a visual representation of your data. A pie chart or bar graph will work well for this data. Advanced students can indicate the margin of error on their graph.

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Variations

How do your results change if you compare all 10 fingers, rather than just 1? Do all 10 fingers from the same person have the same fingerprint?

Toes also have ridge patterns. Do "toe prints" follow the same rules as fingerprints?

Are some patterns more common than others?

If you make more quantitative measurements of the fingerprint patterns, can they be used to predict sibling pairs? With what degree of accuracy?

If fingerprints are unique, why do misidentifications occur in forensics? How easy or hard is it to match a fingerprint with an individual?

Read about statistics and use a mathematical test (like Fisher's exact test) to determine if your findings are statistically relevant. To do this, you will need to make sure you understand p values and you will need to think about whether your sample size is large enough. Online calculators, like the one from GraphPad Software, are good resources for this analysis.

What was the most important thing you learned?
that all fingerprints are different

What problems did you encounter?
ink would go into creses of fingerprints and it would not print well

Can you suggest any improvements or ideas?
maybe you could rub a pencil on some parchment paper and rub a finger on that and then put clear tape over it and put the tape on a paper to observe.I found this worked best for me

Overall, how would you rate the quality of this project?
Very Good

What is your enthusiasm for science after doing your project?
High

Compared to a typical science class, please tell us how much you learned doing this project.
More

What was the most important thing you learned?
my son learned to look at other resources before assuming that one site is the only one he needs. He also learned that not everyone will be willing to have their fingerprints taken. There were several who declined to participate and I just had to tell him to move on to the next person.

What problems did you encounter?
He was confused as far as the months for the fingerprints to occur. He was not sure if it was between 3-4 months or just plain 3 months due to the other resources he looked up. So I told him to make sure that he includes that when he was giving a brief history about fingerprint.

Can you suggest any improvements or ideas?
no.

Overall, how would you rate the quality of this project?
Very Good

What is your enthusiasm for science after doing your project?
Very high

Compared to a typical science class, please tell us how much you learned doing this project.
Much more

What was the most important thing you learned?
Fingerprint similarity is more common than the average person thinks.

What problems did you encounter?
People who were to have their fingerprint taken suddenly "bailed out" out of the blue.

Can you suggest any improvements or ideas?
NEVER do this around the holidays. Also make sure the people you choose to have their fingerprint taken are available. Otherwise, this project is a nightmare. So just make sure and everything will go smoothly.

Overall, how would you rate the quality of this project?
OK

What is your enthusiasm for science after doing your project?

Compared to a typical science class, please tell us how much you learned doing this project.

Ask an Expert

The Ask an Expert Forum is intended to be a place where students can go to find answers to science questions that they have been unable to find using other resources. If you have specific questions about your science fair project or science fair, our team of volunteer scientists can help. Our Experts won't do the work for you, but they will make suggestions, offer guidance, and help you troubleshoot.

Related Links

If you like this project, you might enjoy exploring these related careers:

Forensic Science Technician

Guilty or not guilty? The fate of the accused in court lies with the evidence gathered at the crime scene. The job of the forensic science technician is to gather evidence and use scientific principles and techniques to make sense of it. It can be a grueling and graphic job, but very rewarding. If you like the idea of using science to help deliver justice, then you should investigate this career.
Read more

Genetic Counselor

Many decisions regarding a person's health depend on knowing the patient's genetic risk of having a disease. Genetic counselors help assess those risks, explain them to patients, and counsel individuals and families about their options.
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Cytogenetic Technologist

I have black hair, you have blonde hair. I have blue eyes, you have brown eyes. These, and other characteristics, describe what we look like, how tall we are, and even what our personality is, and they are all controlled by our chromosomes. Chromosomes are packages within each of our cells that hold our genes. Our chromosomes also determine if we might inherit any genetic diseases or if birth defects are present. Extracting, testing, and examining the chromosomes from cells is the job of the cytogenetic technologist. Cytogenetic technologists work with physicians to help diagnose and treat diseases and understand human development. This is a career in which you know you will be helping someone every single day.
Read more

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